vengeance
by paulalou
Summary: How many enemies can one person have? How many places can one person hide? How many lives can one person destroy before someone or something stops them dead in their tracks. My first Sylar fic, because the man deserves it!
1. Chapter 1

"_This isn't about us is it?" _

"_No your right Peter it's not, this is about vengeance."_

"_What the hell for?"_

"_For you killing the only man I ever loved." She advanced upon him forcing him to walk to the very edge of the building. "It's over Peter, say goodbye."_

_A meeting of minds._

The wind blew around the old building muffling the sound of the street below, howling and whistling through cracked and chipped paint work and aged steal that had faded through neglect. A cat prowled the dank corridors of the tower block night vision aided by the dirty yellow glow of the streetlights six stories below that somehow broke through the desolate and heavy darkness.

The creature slunk past several black bin liners full of rubbish that had been gathered at the top of the stairs and looked in to the shadows that appeared to be several shades darker than that around it. Instinct told it to stay clear, it moved in to the light and followed the dusty carpet in to the only home it had ever known.

The owner of the cat did not move as the animal entered, there had been little point in the door being locked for a long time, no one lived here bar the old caretaker who was so frail that he hardly left his apartment. The apartment was always open for the animal to come and go as it pleased a safe place or at least it had been.

A noise made the cat stop dead in its tracks half way across the rug where its owner sat reading. It turned its eyes to the door and silently stared aware in itself that the very thought of raising a warning would be the last thing that it did.

"I wondered when you would come looking for me" she spoke softly not once raising her eyes from the page in front of her. "I have to admit it's later than I thought."

The figure by the door walked in to the light.

"You were expecting me?"

"For a long time. I have to say I'm a little disappointed in the lateness of your arrival." She delicately placed a bookmark on the page she had been reading and closed the book.

To the untrained eye, the change on the face of the man by the door may not have been noticed, it was a flicker. a mere second of recognition.

"Kayla?"

The woman stood and turned to face her would be attacker. Her dark brown hair fell neatly around her shoulders, as she looked death in the eye.

"Gabriel."

"It's Sylar." He said the corners of his mouth twitching.

"Yes, your little persona had me fooled for a while," The book she had been reading flew forward of it's own accord only to be caught by the man known as Sylar a second before it hit him in the chest. "Random killings, tops of heads being cut open, and pore Virginia going crazy cause her poor dear globe trotting son had disappeared off the face of the planet." Her blue eyes bore deep in to his brown as she walked forward. "And now you've come for me, well come on then Gabriel I'd like to see you try."

His eyes scanned the room, this couldn't be Kayla, it had to be some sort of trick there was no way that one of them could have been living on his own doorstep for so long, let alone be someone he knew. Petrelli was behind it; he should just kill her now.

He could hear her heart it was slow and steady, he struck no fear in to her, yet she knew what he had done and what he was capable of, maybe that was what made him think twice about the attack.

Kayla was his friend, or at least the closest thing his mother had ever let him have to a friend, they had sat next to each other in Sunday school and then later in mass, he had known her since they were small and now he had to kill her. The part of him that was still Gabriel gave a shudder at the thought. The part that was already raising a hand to pin her to the wall wasn't doing what he wanted.

Kayla was lifted in the air and pinned silently against the window, she didn't struggle just watched as he paced eyes eating through the pages before him, page after page of cuttings from newspapers and jotted notes from books on evolution. He glanced up at Kayla who found his eyes.

"I wanted to know what was wrong with me, why I'm such a freak, but it turned out I wasn't that much of a freak after all hu?" he felt himself loosing his grip on his brunette captive. She slid down the window and landed gently on her feet. She glared at him, he could feel the gaze burning in to his flesh then he felt himself flying across the room unable to move.

"Not nice is it." She said advancing upon him.

"How did you do that?" he said through gritted teeth well aware that he still couldn't move.

"That would be telling." She said making him sit at the bottom of the wall. "You see I want answers Gabriel and I'm hoping that you will be able to help me."

He was frozen, aware that he had no functions, he had tried everything to unhook her control on him and nothing had worked.

"If you're wondering how you're broken, that would be me." She said smiling down at him. Placing a finger under his chin she forced him to look at her. The part of him that called itself Sylar grinned at her, "When I get my powers back…"

"You aren't getting them back till you agree to play fair, I want answers Gabriel and I want them now, what the hell is going on with me?"

He looked up in to her eyes and he saw fear, it was the first time he had seen it since he walked in to the room, she had the upper hand and they both knew it. But now she could let her guard down her eyes scanned his he knew she was delving in to his thoughts going through the things that he had done.

Neither spoke for some time, an uneasy silence hung between them, Sylar studied her but without his abilities he was lost. How was she doing this? The Haitian blocked powers but that was all, was Kayla like Petrelli? Did she suck up the overflow from people around her? Evolution? He Sylar was the evolution, survival of the fittest. Live and let die and oh how he had let so many die.

Was this all some sort of fantasy? Was the virus back? Did it still course through his veins causing him to hallucinate? He thought back to the girl who held him captive she could manipulate minds, was this what Kayla was doing now?

"I'm not a shape shifter, I'm not working for Petrelli, any of them…" she added seeing his face, "but yes to the other things."

"You're using my abilities against me?" he said slowly as he watched her place herself cross legged upon the floor in front of him, she flicked her hair over her shoulders, he felt himself watching every last move like a hungry wolf, he wanted that…

"In a way yes." She said relaxing the hold his movements became his own again.

He watched her fidget, it was almost calming, he could wait, and he could play with her for a while.

He could feel himself staring at her face; he couldn't remember her face, and the more that he thought about it he couldn't remember much. He remembered Suresh, he remembered Sylar, and he remembered the blood. But Gabriel was no where to be found.

"What you can do Gabriel, it's something special, I knew as soon as I figured it out." She said quietly more to the floor than him. "I wanted to tell them when they came, tell them that you were good, that god had sent you. But they didn't believe me…"she starred him in the eye "they asked of Sylar and I told them I knew no one with that name."

Her eyes found his again.

"Who was it?"

"There were three of them, Petrelli was the leader, I felt him before he set foot in the flats." And eager look crossed her face and then was gone in a flash. "He had some mind reading cop with him, tried to get in to here" she tapped herself on the head. " But the defences were up I knew what he was up to."

She shrugged her shoulders and rolled her eyes, " Man they were persistent, but I knew once they had come calling a few times that they would figure out that I wasn't playing."

Sylar was aware that he could hear her heart beat, it betrayed her it was beating fast now she was losing her grip on him.

"Why not fight them?" he asked as she got to her feet and offered him a hand. He accepted it and she lead him to her sofa. "Because I'm weak, I couldn't take on all three of them at once." She played absent minded with the cross around her neck, something in Sylar stirred.

"I came here to kill you, so did they."

She looked him deep in the eyes.

"If you were going to kill me Gabriel Grey, you would have done it the second that you walked through that door." She said without a quiver of fear.

"I still could."

"Then do it, I stopped controlling you almost five minuets ago." She said quietly.

Both sat in silence watching the cat as it cleaned itself on the table in front of them, the sound of the wind howled around the empty building now, warning of the emptiness and the harsh reality.

"Are we evolution? That's what that book says."

"The man who wrote that book is dead." Said Sylar picking the book from the table.

"I know, you killed him." Sylar looked at her there had been no fear there, her heart had returned to normal.

" I…"Sylar got to his feet this wasn't happening he didn't show remorse he answered to no one. He had to kill her; it was what he had come here to do. He stared at her he didn't need her powers, she was just a mirror…

He felt the pain first.

"I wouldn't if I were you Gabriel."

He had tried to read her mind and had ended up reading his own instead. The pain was excruciating.

As soon as it had started it stopped.

He looked up from his hands that had been clutching his head to the face of Kayla she looked concerned.

"You should go." She said pointing at the door.

"I'll be back… it's just the way."

"And I will be waiting, but for now you go."

He stumbled towards the door a ringing in his ears reflecting the pain.

As he got to the door he stopped.

A clock had chimed.

"I saved it when they emptied her apartment, I figured you might come looking one day."


	2. Chapter 2

As soon as he had left Kayla slumped, she felt weak, weaker than she had ever imagined.

It was getting worse, and she had no one to turn to, part of her had wanted him to kill her, get it over and done with. Using her power for any amount of time was becoming a drain, though the residues of others abilities would stay in her system a lot longer now than in the past.

She forced herself to go to the window and look down in to the street below, she knew she was foolish to think that she would get a parting glimpse as he left. That was if he had actually left.

He had come here to kill her, and yet he hadn't, she had watched and studied him ever since she had found out that there were others like her others that could do the things that she could.

Gabriel, he had changed so much, but he was still in there under all the lies that he masqueraded behind. There had been something in the eyes; it had burned so deeply, yet flashed at the surface when he had looked at her.

She had wanted to tell him but how could she? How would he ever understand that she knew what it was like to kill, to drain someone?

Why did evolution have to be such a bitch?

He watched her up in her window for quite some time, she couldn't see him, or if she could she was a good actress. He didn't know what had come over him back there. He needed to kill her. That was what he did. But something primeval had stopped him, survival of the fittest? Everything that he had been through hadn't prepared him for this, to lose ones abilities, to have them suppressed in a way that made you vulnerable, weak. He had been there and done that, that damn company had put him through hell and back, reduced him to plain old Gabriel, made him dependant on others. Maya may have been a slip in the master plan, but she would still prove useful if he could get past the trained monkeys that guarded her as soon as his abilities were back fully he would take her on.

There was a noise behind him that he had heard creeping slowly. He turned and saw the light skim the ginger fur of the cat from before; it wound around his legs slow and affectionately. Sylar glanced down at the beast. He reached down and picked it up, it purred happily in his arms.

"You may possibly be the only thing that's been happy to see me in a long time…" he reached for the animals' collar searching out the name tag "Angel… you got to be kidding me." He shot another glance up at the window; she was looking right at him.

There was a sharp pain in the side of his head and Kayla's voice echoed. "Go it's not safe there coming."

Kayla composed herself and waited, she had watched him fade in to the shadows almost invisible to the naked eye until he had faded altogether. Even when she was sure that he was gone her mind could quite clearly see him standing there, it was burned in to her memory, she had to protect him; he had no one, he needed her.

She pulled on her coat and headed down to the bar where she worked checking the shadows for movement, secretly knowing that he was still there, still watching, it reassured her rather than scared her.

The bar was empty, the harsh winter night having kept most indoors she nodded to Teddy the bar tender and headed in to the back room to make herself a warm drink before she started her shift.

She turned the kettle on and waited, sure enough there was a knock, but it was more out of courtesy than necessity, she had felt him arrive in the building.

"Come in Hiro, its open."

She put the final touches to his coffee and slid the cup over to his spot on the other side of the bench.

"Did he come?"

"What do you think?" she said scooping a second helping of sugar in to her own molten brown mess.

"You are still alive?"

"Last time I checked." She said trying not to look Hiro in the eye; there was something about that big honest face of his that could force the truth from anyone.

"He is the road to your destruction." Hiro said sipping from the cup.

"I know you keep telling me that Hiro, but he hasn't hurt anyone in a long time, maybe we should…"

"Drop our guard? He killed Charlie, he almost killed my friend Ando…"

"What if it was the virus… what if…"

"What if is not an answer…" Hiro raised his voice something that he had never done in the short time that Kayla had known him. "Sylar is a killer."

"But Gabriel isn't, you didn't know him before he became this monster." She slowly stirred her coffee, her eyes floated away from Hiro, her thoughts wandering to Gabriel

There was a heavy silence between the two of them, Kayla was more than aware that Hiro could quite easily go back and look, see if Sylar as he called him had been there, she hoped that Hiro's code would make him believe her.

"Sylar did not come?"

"No, Sylar was not there, Hiro I would probably be dead if he had been, you don't have to worry, I'm not going to let him affect me, I'm stronger than I look."

"Even so, I wish you would join us, Peter would like you to-"

"Peter can kiss my ass, he doesn't need me, he's scared of me, worried I might be some sort of threat, he's scared he's got another Sylar on his hands." Kayla shook her head. "It doesn't matter to me what he wants, the only side I'm on is my own."

"I only ask you to think about it, one person alone can not take down a walking devil."

"And neither can an army. No offence last time you tried you ended up four hundred years in the past I believe?"

Hiro said nothing but drained his cup and got to his feet.

"I will call in again tomorrow, maybe you will reconsider helping us."

She walked him to the door pausing as he opened it in to the cold night air " I would rather be a sitting duck than a open target, I'm sorry Hiro but I can't join you."

"As you wish, but the offer still stands."

"Goodnight Hiro." She said closing the door in his face.

She scooped her hair back in to a ponytail and headed for the bar, Teddy watched her every move.

"Another night another knock back will that guy ever learn?" he asked as she took a seat on the large leather stool by the beer pull.

"He's harmless."

"What about the other one, the one that was in earlier?" Teddy looked at her with his old soulful eyes.

"What other one?"

"The guy whose brother was running for governor…"

"Peter?"

"Could well be! Now he's a nice guy." Said Teddy helping himself to a shot from behind the bar.

"Yes but he's also had two ex girlfriends that have 'mysteriously disappeared' I'm not getting involved…"

Teddy grinned and shook his head. "You know your problem? You watch far to many CSI and X-files, you think everything's a conspiracy." Teddy pushed a shot along towards her. "Nothing interesting ever happens around here."

Sylar had followed her, He had seen her talking to the future man, listened to every word, and something in him stirred, she did not think that he was a monster, she had defended him. Why? 'The only side I am on is my own' hadn't that been his motto for so long, he was the natural progression.

He watched her through the window of the café across the road from the Bar where she worked, this was a new feeling for him, he knew how things worked that was what he did, that was his power, but her? Kayla was a mystery, How she did what she did remained a mystery. Maybe that was what had made him follow her he felt the scar from where the sword had almost killed him, Kayla had shunned the one that had done that to him, how did that make him feel?

He longed for people to go in to the bar, he longed for it to be busy so he could slide in unnoticed and watch her close up. The old woman behind the counter walked over and sat down in the empty stool beside him.

"It's Gabriel isn't it?"

He looked around at the old grey haired lady; her wrinkled face was hidden in the shadows cast from the light behind her.

"I thought it was you." She said quietly reaching out and patting him on the hand, "I used to teach you in Sunday school don't you remember?"

Visions of a large black board with scribbles all over it came to his mind. He had a vague recollection…he could hear the keypads being pushed on the phone in the kitchen, and he could feel the smile creeping up on his face.

"I wouldn't call the police if I were you." He said quietly using his mind to pull down the shutters and turn the closed sign.

The woman watched as the blinds for the shop closed without anyone touching it.

Behind him the man dialled the last one.

"I said NO" the phone flew out of the old mans hands, wrapping its cord tightly around the mans neck, the little old woman go to her feet and tried to go to his aid but the knives from the counter flew at her piercing her in the heart.

When the noise had settled and he was sure there would be no more interruptions, he tossed the bodies to one side of the dinner with a wave of his hand. The other realised the blinds again.

"Only one person gets to call me Gabriel." He said taking his vigil and drinking his coffee.


	3. Chapter 3

The wind had dropped and the rain had replaced it, puddles formed on the ground, the streetlights reflected in the shimmering pools, Kayla had watched them for the last hour waiting quietly for the clock to chime so she could close up. Teddy would have been a welcome as she swept the already clean floor gazing out through the large glass panel in to the street that seemed so empty now that the lights were out in the café across the road. Kayla paused in her cleaning and looked at the clock on the wall, it wasn't yet midnight, yet the café was closed? The Redpath's never closed this early, they normally became the next stop for the lost soles that were turfed from Teddy's and home was not an option. She couldn't recall them saying that they were going away anywhere, had the lights been on when she had come in to work? She couldn't remember. Her head had been a mess, what with Gabriel turning up like that.

Behind her the bar clock struck twelve. She sighed and propped the broom back against the bar. Taking of her apron she folded it and placed it on the polished wooden surface. There was something gratifying about doing things by hand, she could use her abilities but why bother.

She walked to the door and flicked out the lights, sliding out the door she checked the street to make sure that she was alone.

Something moved in the shadows at the far end of the street, but she hadn't seen, she had heard it.

"What the heck?" she muttered rubbing at her ear. She looked at the far end of the street she could see it now a dog darted out from the parked cars. How had she heard that? Was that one of Gabriel's abilities? The ability to hear really well? He had killed someone for that? She checked her watch; it had been over five hours since she had seen him? More and more now this would happen, the abilities stayed, once over they wouldn't last much longer than a few minuets after the person left.

Somewhere in the distance a siren sounded, she winced with pain, and it was as if it had gone off right next to her.

"Hurts like a bitch right?"

She looked up from where she had her head in her hands. Gabriel was watching her from the shadows; he stepped in to the light. His sneakers made no sound as he walked towards her his jeans soaking up the water that pored from the sky above. He had his long black coat on from earlier but now it flapped open to show the shirt and vest underneath it, the rain didn't seam to bother him neither did the noise. It was as if a full percussion was sounding off in her head, the sound of the rain hitting the floor echoed through her.

"How the heck can you stand this!"

He laughed, it was deep and it only added to the pain.

"You learn to deal with it…" he smiled at her taking her hands away from her head, her skin felt electric under his touch. "You have a understanding of how things work it wont take you long."

Even as he said it the world became quieter.

"You killed someone for that power?" she asked him as she hunched herself up against the rain that was making it's way down her back, tugging her hand from his grip. His face softened. And he smiled again.

"In my defence, I didn't realise how pointless it really was at the time, although I have found that it can come in useful."

She smirked at him.

"It can, it gave me a lead on Peter Petrelli,"

"What is it with that guy?"

"I hate him"

"Why because he can do what you can do?" Kayla said starting across the street, she had fully intended to cast a sly comment back across her shoulder as she rounded the corner but Gabriel caught up.

"No, he can do what you can do, only problem is he's such a good guy, all his 'save the cheerleader save the world stuff' bit ironic as he was saving the world from himself…"

Kayla stopped and Gabriel nearly walked in to her.

"What? Did Mr Goody two shoes and his gang of misfits fail to mention that it was Peter that nearly killed us all?"

Kayla looked at him, they had told her a lot of things; they had told her that the man that was on front of her was a cold-blooded killer. Yet he seamed so normal, just a little more confident than he used to be, and maybe he didn't look like he got dressed in the dark anymore…

"How?" She found herself asking.

The smile returned to Gabriel's face. "First time around he did this…" he held his hand out in front of him it lit the street and caused little puffs of steam to rise from the glow as the rain hit it.

"He made his hand glow?"

"He can't control it, he became an atomic bomb. You should have seen it… have to admit though it would have tasted a lot sweeter if I didn't have a lump of steal sticking out of my side."

Kayla looked at him, what was he on about? Was he as crazy as Hiro liked to make out? Gabriel seamed to be in control of his power; he seamed almost normal. Well as normal as a man talking about being a walking atom bomb could be.

"What happened to your side?"

"Mr Time and Space decided to make me in to a human pincushion." He mimed being stabbed.

"Hiro?"

"Oh is that what he's called, Ironic I would call it, someone called Hiro could be part of something so dark and disturbing as what Petrelli has in store."

Kayla stopped.

"As dark and disturbing as…"

"Petrelli… you look shocked." He said tipping his head to the side and surveying her. She could feel him taking in the details of her face, reading her expressions; she could feel his eyes resting on her lips.

"All I'm saying Mackayla, (she noted his use of her full name) I may be a killer, but I'm not evil, He's a villain playing at heroes. It's only a matter of time before he slips, I slip I hurt myself, he slips and we all die."

Kayla looked him in the eyes, the streetlight flickered, she wasn't sure if that was down to her or Gabriel, she could feel the words unspoken between the two of them.

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Because I don't want to have to kill you because you made the wrong decision."

The lamp above them flickered out.

"You have been listening in at doors?" she said scanning the street, she noticed that Gabriel was doing the same, if she hadn't turned out the light and he hadn't they weren't alone. Again he grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her deeper in to the shadows.

"How often do they follow you?" he whispered in to her ear as he held her close to him in the shadows.

"This would be the first time." She tried not to shudder as his warm breath landed on her neck, she could use her abilities to protect herself, he knew that but yet he seamed weary of this outside threat.

His fingers played out a rhythm on her wrist, he was nervous he didn't know what was going to happen next and it scared him. At the end of the street a pale blue light glowed, whomever it was following had there own power source.

"Well, well, well." Gabriel sneered quietly, "if it isn't the national grid." His hand stopped twitching out a rhythm and changed to gently stroking the skin that lay beneath the fingers. "You might want to mimic her, you will never pay an electric bill again."

"That glow?"

"She's an interesting one that's for sure, another one of Petrelli's projects." He dropped Kayla's wrist and walked out in to the street. It would have been highly affective it wasn't for the waterlogged coat dragging the ground.

"Sylar."

"Tell me why I shouldn't kill you." The blond stopped in her tracks as Gabriel addressed her.

"You can't, you're broken, the company did something to you…" she stuttered.

A grin spread across Gabriel's face. Kayla stepped slightly forwards. Gabriel was right she could feel the power this girl had, she could use that… she felt a tingle in her fingers it spread like pins and needles till there was a low buzzing… then cracks as a tiny lightning bolt shot from finger to finger. She looked down at her hands, She hadn't meant to do it, but yet she had, she could see the woman flagging.

"Why are you following us?" he said not advancing on her in body only in voice.

"I…"

"Did Peter send you?" Kayla found herself asking. The blond girl nodded. Kayla walked out of the shadows and ignited the street lamp behind them all. "What's your name?" She said quietly.

The blond girl looked from Kayla to Gabriel and then back again. "Elle."

"We'll Elle I do believe that my friend asked you a question?" She could feel Gabriel's eyes on her again; Elle watched her hand, it still continued to crackle with electricity.

"He wants to know if the virus antidote worked on you." Elle said nodding at Gabriel. "He figured that you would come looking for _her_." She stressed the last word as she nodded back at Kayla. Kayla knew straight away that that was the wrong thing for her to have said, as did Elle. She slowly started backing off. But it was to late; Kayla saw the body stiffen a second before Elle was thrown in to a Dumpster.

Kayla ducked just in time as a jet of electricity flashed across the top of her head.

"Kayla stay out the way." Gabriel said as he ducked the shot and pulled her behind him, he pulled the large metal ladder from the escape and threw it in the direction of the blond with a flick of the finger.

She recoiled winded but two seconds later she was on her feet and hit Gabriel in the chest with another bolt. She advanced on his riving body as he fell to the floor.

"So it did work did it? Obviously not as well as Mohinder thought it would, won't Peter be happy when I take him home a Sylar." A vicious grin crossed the blondes' face; it was removed quite fast as Kayla's fist connected with it.

"Get the hell away from him." She growled. As Elle cradled her face, her other hand coming up to attack Kayla. "So what are you his new toy? He shot the last one."

Under her skin Kayla felt the electricity bubbling and as she watched she could see Elle fail. "Tell Peter to leave me alone, I don't want to join up to some Circus side show."

"You're making a big mistake." Elle said backing off.

"Oh shut up little girl." Said Kayla hitting Elle with a blast of her own medicine, Elle shrieked with the pain. "Take the message from me…you didn't see Sylar, he wasn't here." Elle glared at her.

"Go before I change my mind and shoot the messenger." Elle clambered to her feet and started running looking back over her shoulder as she went as soon as she disappeared around the corner Kayla turned to Gabriel, he was cradling his side.

"You ok." Kayla said quietly squatting down at his side.

"I could have taken her." He said wincing.

"Yeah I saw all the 'taking' you were doing." She helped him to his feet. " I think we need a long talk don't you?"

"What about." He said blankly.

"About everything?"

"There isn't anything to talk about."

Kayla raised an eyebrow but dropped the subject till they had travelled the block to her flat; they climbed the stairs slowly Gabriel struggling under what she suspected was an open wound.

"What antidote was she on about? What's wrong with you Gabe?" Kayla said when they reached her landing.

"It was a virus…after Petrelli went a-bomb on us and future boy stabbed me someone injected me with a virus…" Kayla gasped, but Gabriel continued. "They patched me up aright saved my life but they gave me a virus that took away my abilities...all of them." They paused as Kayla pushed her door open. Angel mewed a hello as they made there way in and she lowered Gabriel on to the sofa.

"But you have your ability's back now right?" she said as she helped him out of his coat and took it to the kitchen. She found her first aid kit in the kitchen cupboard, boiled some water with a flick of her wrist then transferred it in to a bowl and headed back to the sofa where Gabriel was sitting undoing his shirt to look at the damage. He flicked the lamp on.

"I have them back but no where as strong as they were." He said taking the kit from Kayla as she sat on the small coffee table. Angel looked at Gabriel for a few seconds before jumping across from the table to the sofa.

Kayla found herself watching as Gabriel slowly pealed away the bandage from his wound so that it oozed red. How could Hiro do that? He seamed to gentile. She realised she was staring and felt herself going slowly red.

"So this virus?"

"It's called the shanty virus, Dr Suresh was kind enough to give me the antidote as way of an apology for trying to foolishly betray me."

"Dr Suresh? As in…the genealogist? Isn't he dead?"

Somehow Kayla managed to pull her eyes away from the wound to Gabriel's face.

"Yes he's dead, of that I'm sure, seeing as I was there. Dr Mohinder Suresh is his son; I have a lot to be thankful for to that family. They made me what I am."

"A cold blooded killer?" Kayla said leaning in to use the water to clean the wound. Her fingers trembled slightly as she brushed the skin.

She felt Gabriel's breath right next to her ear.

"No, special…just like you."

His hand made its way to her wrist again; he began gently rubbing his fingers along it. "I don't know why you're scared of me, if I was going to hurt you, you would be dead by now."

She turned to look at him.

"I'm not scared of you, I'm scared of me." He looked at her his head tipped on the side in that thoughtful way that she had seen a few times in the short hours that he had come hurtling back in to her life.

"I was impressed." He said tracing her wrist down to her hand and across the fingers. She felt a shot of something almost electric shoot up her arm. She found herself staring in to his eyes.

"What have you got me in to?"

"Evolution." He smiled at her.

"What did she mean, that girl…who was the other one?"

"Trust me if you had been there you would have shot the bitch as well." Breaking the contact with Kayla's skin almost broke the trance that she felt herself in. However there was something holding her to him, something more than intrigue. "You killed her? Did you, you know…"

The smirk danced on his lips again.

"Did I what? Steal her ability's or sleep with her?"

Kayla was ashamed of herself but knew she had meant both questions, she had felt something as strong as jealousy take hold of her as soon as 'another woman' had been mentioned.

"I needed her, I needed to get back here and she was a ride and an excuse to get to Suresh. I will admit that I would have loved that juicy ability but little miss electric turned up and spoiled everything."

Kayla watched him as he sat up and positioned a leg either side of hers. He took both of her hands in his own and spoke straight to her.

She could feel the tingling again, this time it coursed through her body, this man in front of her could not be her Gabriel, he was so different, yet there was something familiar and right about him, as if she was meant to be here with him. She braved looking up in to his face.

"I did come here to kill you tonight. You knew that when I walked through the door, I didn't know that it was you until I got here. But you have nothing to worry about, and you know deep down that you don't, you knew as soon as you didn't kill me, because I know you easily could."

Kayla opened her mouth to speak but nothing came out.

"You stepped in to save me tonight, why?" he asked pulling her silently closer.

"Because it was what I had to do." And Kayla knew she was telling the truth even if she wasn't sure where the words came from.

"And me finding you was what I had to do." He stroked her face. " I should go."

"No." she said quietly pulling her hands free from his grip. "Stay, your hurt and they will be looking for you, if they turn up I want to help you."

"If you're sure."

"Gabe, the sofa is all yours." She smiled.

"Sofa? But…"

"I'm sorry the only man that sleeps next to me is my Angel."


	4. Chapter 4

The light woke him, it moved across his face slowly, bringing him back to the land of the living. There was a dull pain in his side he rolled over to get himself more comfortable before realising that he was resting on something soft. He opened his eyes a fraction and looked around the room where he lay.

At his side he felt a slight pressure, a nudge, looking down the cat was getting itself comfortable beside him, under the covers something stirred.

Kayla's hair spread out over the pillow in a fan, she had the covers pulled up tight around her, he could remember her like this before, an image of a room, a small girl with braids and a bright red pinafore dress hiding behind the sofa, the shouting the fighting. Sylar felt a rage within him that he hadn't felt for a long time, a burning desire to protect her from harm. Flashes of the childhood that he wished he could forget and the bit of him that called out for forgiveness. As a child Gabriel had had to stand by and watch as she had been struck down, watched as his own mother had tended her wounds.

She had been sent away after her dad was locked up, he could remember it so clearly now in the quiet, the tears and the simple goodbye, two people who had never really been friends but had been thrust together by consequence. Was that what was happening now? The two of them thrust together by consequences?

He was aware that this was the first time he had slept on a bed in a long time. For now he would lie there and enjoy it. His body ached. Using his abilities was beginning to affect him, last night…

He wasn't sure what last night was about but there was something happening that he had no control over. Something that reached in to him and moved him towards her, and what scared him most was the fact that after that first aching for her abilities the craving had not returned.

A new craving had returned but not the one that was likely to kill her, he had watched the way that she had handled herself against Elle yesterday she had so much power, together they had so much power. But there was something else there as well and as she stirred on her pillow it reared its head, he found himself watching her so intently that he was sure that she must be able to feel his stares.

The world seamed to be at some sort of peace with itself. He knew that it wouldn't last.

He listened to the ticking of his fathers' clock, it was ticking out of time, but even that right now could not disturb him, he looked out across the open plan living area at the pendulum swinging from side to side, it seamed to rest his mind.

"Morning."

Sylar was moved from his hypnotic trance by the sound of her voice. He looked down at her, her head barley poking out of the covers. She watched him closely almost as if she was trying to assess if he were real.

Sylar pulled himself around and sat on the edge of the bed, this was too normal, this situation did not happen to him, this was not part of his master plan, he cradled his head in his hands and tried to block out the room around him.

He new she was watching him, knew she was staring at the back of his neck.

He got up and grabbed his coat from the back of the sofa, he couldn't look at her, and to look at her would be to admit that he didn't want to go. He pulled his coat on and glanced at the clock it was four minuets fast, he reached up and stooped the pendulum before sliding out the door and in to the corridor. He heard movement but she didn't follow him, when he reached the bottom of the second flight of stairs he was aware he wasn't alone, two large amber eyes had followed him down the stairs.

"Don't look at me like that." He said to the cat as it glared at him. "She's not safe as long as I'm here, not from me and not from them." The cat looked at him, he felt foolish, and he was talking to a cat for god's sake he was definitely cracking up. He lent down and stroked the beast behind the ear.

"Go sit with her, you need to look after her ok."

He slammed his fist against the door of an abandoned apartment and cursed under his breath, what was wrong with him, he was supposed to come here to kill her, not to sit and talk, not to drink tea and talk to cats. He was a cold-blooded murderer and anyone who knew of him would tell you that.

He cursed under his breath again and headed off in to the early morning that seamed to be happening without him.

He would stay away, she was no good for him, he would stay away and get strong and then go after Hiro and Peter, because a pointless murder and a bit of revenge was exactly what he needed now.

Kayla knew better than to try and follow him, he had rested and she had not, in that state if he tried to attack, in any form… she would be to weak to resist. She waited until she knew instinctively to reset the pendulum. She crossed over to the sofa and sank in to its almost thread bare cushions. The sound of the clock accompanied her thoughts. It didn't help them to become any clearer.

What was he sent to her for? What had she expected when he had turned up? She had expected to stand up for herself. She looked across at the unmade bed, her side messy and crumpled; the side that Gabriel had lay upon immaculate. He had been talking in his sleep thrashing about at things that haunted him, things that only he could see, so she had done what she though necessary and placed him on the bed before he bled all over her rug. He had looked so at ease when she lay him down, so innocent.

Yet she understood it more now that craving to know everything, to see what you can do how far you can push yourself.

Kayla stared down at her hand where she was holding a glowing ball of bright red light.

So Peter had gone nuclear had he? Yet he lived to tell the tale. She glanced over at the blue book on the kitchen counter, two seconds later it was in her hands. How does anyone survive a nuclear explosion?

She pulled her hair back from her eyes and flicked through the book.

She looked down at the papers and the book of cuttings that she had thrown at Gabriel last night.

Dr Suresh had been killed by Gabriel, which made him patient zero, she had read the files.

But according to Suresh 'Sylar' had one ability, not all the ones that Gabriel had.

She flicked through the pages till she found the page she was looking for. Her mind skimmed the page.

"I wonder." She said getting to her feet and walking towards the kitchen. The cat followed her and jumped up on the bench. She went to the large block of kitchen knifes and pulled out the largest.

"Peter blew himself up right? Yet he lived to tell the tale, there can only be one thing that could have caused that." She said to the animal that watched her expectantly.

Kayla then plunged the knife in to her own arm.

" Son of a…" the blood started streaming down her arm slowly she watched it trickle down her arm to the floor. She winced away the sight of the blood, and looked up at the cat.

"Don't say anything." She warned.

She stared down at the wound on her arm and lay the knife back on the bench. She watched as the wound carefully healed itself.

"That's interesting."


	5. Chapter 5

Kayla had spent the last three days carefully getting her facts together, assessing the situation she was in. As far as she could make out she was stuck between a rock and a hard place, problem being that the hard place had not been far from her thoughts for the last three days. She had abandoned all the secrecy that she had once held in the past to her interests in Activating Evolution which stood open on the back of the bar as the nights had worn on.

The blue book was striped of it's dust jacket and held up by and empty bottle of Jack. She had made the decision early on that she needed to talk to someone who knew what he or she was talking about.

She looked up as the door opened, it was still early but it was the weekend, tonight would get busy, in a way that made her happy, maybe she could forget about Gabriel for a while.

Her heart had skipped when the door opened, but she had known before she even looked up that it wasn't him she would have felt him, she knew that now.

Hiro had called again and not only had she heard him coming she had felt her body adjusting to his presence.

Hiro intrigued her, in theory she should be able to do what he could do, but try as she might the pieces just didn't fit together unless he was there.

She had got to grips with most of the abilities that she had inherited from Gabriel but some she struggled with more than others had.

Her memory seamed to be better now than it had ever been, she no longer struggled with the drinks orders and remembering the long complicated names of the various conditions that were charted in Activating evolution had become so good that she barley needed to look at the tomb anymore.

What she couldn't understand however was why she had never inherited the abilities from Peter? Should Peter, who apparently owned the same genetic structure as she, not have taken Gabriel's abilities on the numerous times the two had encountered each other?

"Damn it!" She looked up from the book again to Teddy who was kicking a pipe under the bar.

"What's up?" she asked sideling over.

"Damn pump's gone again, I'm gonna have to call someone out again." He said resting his weight ether side of the pump.

"It took weeks last time." Kayla said flatly. "Have we got the manuals?" she asked.

"Somewhere, but you don't seriously expect to be able to fix it do you?"

Kayla looked back at the book and then thought back to the conversation from several nights ago.

"I can have a go, I can see how it works, I can fix it."

Bennett had been easy to find, and he knew that the man he had incarcerated in his own cell would soon lead him on the path to the person he really wanted to locate.

He had followed them to an old factory on the outskirts of a city. Sylar had smirked at the irony; the so-called heroes, hanging out in the trademark evil doers' hide out was like something straight out of the crazy painter's comic book. He had slunk in to the shadows, unheard by the passing, unseen by the watching. He had seen Suresh come and go, but he was not the one that he wanted.

The pain in his side throbbed; he had questions for the good doctor, why had his side not healed? Why were his abilities not as strong as they had been? Were there some wounds that would never heal?

He realised that he had been staring at nothing for over five minuets. He was distracted his mind filled with a soft scent and a warm smile; someone who he knew wasn't scared of him for what he was, what he could do, but because they had felt the same connection. The one that made her as big a threat to him as he was to her.

He shook his head trying to defog his thoughts. He had become a watcher, he had watched the city, watched the way that people moved from place to place, who came and who went. His mind remembered the patterns; it gave him time to think of other things.

"I have to give it to you kid, I dunno how you did it!" said Teddy wiping an already spotless beer glass.

Kayla looked down at her beer soaked clothes.

"It was easy, I told you I have a knack for making things work." She tested the pump; the dark brown liquid fell smoothly in to the sink below.

"You mind if I nip home to get changed?" she asked looking up at Teddy who watched the ever-filling bar.

"No problem, just don't be long it looks as if it could get busy in here tonight."

Kayla untied her apron and kissed Teddy on the cheek, " I promise I won't be longer than twenty."

"What do I say if your fan club turn up?"

"Tell them the truth, it'll not kill them." She rolled her eyes as she walked for the door, her coat almost flying to her hand till habit told her otherwise. "Peter can bite my arse." She said as she checked the street for unwelcome visitors.

There were lights on across the road in the café and a cop car pulled up outside. Kayla waited a second before crossing the road; she could feel the eyes on her.

"What Peter?"

"Two body's one strangled with a phone cord, the other impaled to the wall with knives, no other physical signs of a struggle. All the calling signs of Sylar, still sure you haven't seen him?"

Kayla started to walk.

"Positive."

"Kayla wait up."

"Why so you can send one of your mates to follow me?" Kayla swung around to look at him.

He stepped out in to the light.

"Why wont you just leave me alone?"

"Because we need you." The voice didn't belong to Peter; it belonged to Hiro who had just held a sword to her chest. Instinct took hold, she reached out and grabbed the sword, the blade melted away.

Hiro hesitated long enough for her to break free from his grip in the confusion, she ducked out from under Peter's flailing arms, and he swung around and looked straight through her.

"The bitch has gone invisible!" Said Peter wafting his hand out towards her and missing her in her hiding place by half an inch.

"She must have got that from you." Said Hiro looking around.

"Maybe so but that." He pointed to the sword. " That's not one of mine it's one of Sylar's, It's one Mohinder said he had, she's seen him."

"How do you know it was not someone else?"

Peter glared in to the darkness where Kayla was currently making the diplomatic decision to get out the way before whatever was happening wore off.

"I know its Sylar, trust me Hiro." Kayla looked back over her shoulder as she rounded the corner. It was just in time for her to hear peter mutter. " And when I find him, this time I'm going to kill him."

He had watched her from the rooftops, ready to help if she had needed it.

However there had been no call for him to run to her aid, she had surpassed his expectations and now as he lowered himself on to the fire escape opposite her apartment he knew exactly why he was drawn to her. It was the same reason that Peter believed that he needed her. Evolution needed to find a way.

He watched as she cast her clothes and flicked open the wardrobe with utter disregards to anything around her. She had become so much more confident in only a week; it was like watching himself. She disappeared in to the bathroom for quite some time, he moved along the fire escape trying to work out the best way across.

He looked down for a second to check the street, when he looked up Kayla was staring him in the face. He looked down again she was standing in mid air.

"Boo." She said smiling and stepping on to the iron walkway.

"You can levitate?" he asked her looking her up and down she was wrapped in her bath towel. He tried to repress the déjà vu that was happening.

"So that's Maya?"

"Do you have to do that?"

"Do you have to sit out here like some sort of perv?" she said looking towards him, she shivered. He instinctively reached out and pulled her towards him.

"I'm just looking out for you."

She pulled herself away from him but grabbed his wrist. She stepped out in to the night dragging him with her; it took most of his power to stay up with her. He actually felt the relief when his feet touched the metal outside her window.

She let go of him and ducked in to the apartment.

"I watched you tonight, Peter knows that you've seen me, you gave it away when you melted the sword."

"Peter is and idiot."

"Yes but that's not the point." Sylar said watching as she flicked through the clothes in her wardrobe.

"I dealt with it, did you kill the Redpaths?" He walked up behind her he wanted so bad to reach out and touch her bare shoulders. To stroke her wet hair…

"Yes."

"Why?"

"They were going to call the police."

"You couldn't have just cut the phone line?"

He reached out to touch her just as she turned around to look at him. Her big blue eyes looked up in to his. "Why kill them Gabe? There not special, they weren't like us, so why?"

He didn't have an answer, he didn't know why. For the first time in a long time he felt remorse.

"I don't have to answer to you." He said angrily. Kayla signalled for him to turn around whilst she changed. When she walked around to look at him she wore a plane white T-shirt and blue denim skirt.

"No you don't answer to me, but you need to answer to someone." She said advancing on him. " I don't know what's happening to me Gabriel, I don't know what's going on and I don't like it." She reached around him and grabbed her bag. "I don't need you just drooping in on me, I don't need Peter and his gang jumping on me in the street," she shoved an arm full of clothes in to the bag and headed for the door picking up Angel as she walked. "If you're coming bring your damn clock."

She knew he was following her even if she couldn't see him she could hear his thoughts, he knew where they were going, he had done ever since they had turned down the road with his fathers shop on it. She found the key in her purse and made her way through the almost empty apartment block. The entrance hall showed more signs of life than her own, people still lived here even if the place was way past repair. The door still had a police sign hanging there; she ignored it as she put the key in the lock.

She saw a flash of what had happened that night. She said nothing as Gabriel stopped on the threshold. She placed Angel carefully on the counter before turning to look at him, she could see by his face that he had expected to see the apartment the same way as he had last, his eyes flicked to the floor.

"I cleaned it up the best I could, I wanted to make it look nice, maybe sell it and pay for a nice headstone for your mother." She walked over and took the clock off him making him break from his resolve. She closed the door behind him as he walked in to the room so that Angel wouldn't escape.

She flicked the light switch and nothing happened, she placed a hand over the light switch and gave it a jolt of electricity, the lights flicked in to life for a few seconds and then died.

"She kept candles in the top draw next to the sink." Gabriel said, quietly flicking his hand in that general direction candles flew to the counter making the cat jump. Kayla lit them both and carried one over to Gabriel; he was crouching over the spot where he had slain his mother.

"Why did you bring us here?" he said his voice low and flat.

"There was no where else…"

"There are a million other places we could have gone." This time she could hear the anger in his voice.

"No one will think to look for us here."

He ran his hand across the floor.

She felt the impact against the wall. Saw him advancing on her.

"Why did you have to bring me here!" he raised his finger towards her head as he neared her. "Did Peter make you? Are you working for him, I should have just killed you when I had the chance."

"For Fucks sake Gabe, do you really think I'm working or him after what you saw tonight?" she could feel the blood running down her face. She fought with him flinging him back against the counter. She reached up and touched her forehead. "So this is Sylar is it?" she said grabbing him and sending a minor jolt through his body. He looked at her, smirking he grabbed her back.

"Why did you bring me here?"

"Because I have to protect you, because I need to…" she let go of him, he dropped his grip on her. Both stood looking at each other, beside them Angel purred.

"Why are you following me?" she asked him quietly.

"I don't know."

She looked him in the eye, the candle flickered reflected in his eyes, drawing her in she knew she was moving forward.

"You're all I've thought about for the last few days." He said quietly.

"It'll be that evolution thing." She said offhanded, as he reached his hand up in to her hair, they were so close now, she knew for a fact that he could feel how fast her heart was beating, heck he could hear it, she could certainly hear his.

"I don't think it is, but we can blame it on that if it makes you feel better?"

"Who are you now Gabe or Sylar?" she said as he moved in closer.

"To be honest right now, I don't know." He looked down at the floor as if he was deep in thought when he looked up a smile played on his lips. She found herself looking at them as he moved in closer.

"Who do you want me to be?"

His face went blank as he watched her forehead; she wiped the blood away knowing that he was watching the cut heal.

"Nice trick you have there."

"I thought it was one of yours?"

Gabriel shook his head; "If it was one of mine I wouldn't have a massive gash in my side would I."

Kayla was about to answer when a loud crash sounded in the hall outside making both of them jump. Kayla kicked herself mentally for letting her guard down; it was going to get her in to all sorts of trouble.


End file.
